Words Left Unspoken
by ThatDreamerWriter
Summary: "She brought a great deal of love and joy into our family and we feel she deserves a second chance. However, we are not prepared to bring her back into our home at this time..." What if Callie wasn't so easy to forgive after hearing those words? What if things went differently after that day in the courtroom and she shut down?
1. Forget

**Author's Note: This was an idea I had for a while (ever since this episode aired). I gave it to someone to use, but they never followed through with writing it so I'm taking it back…**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Forget**

_She brought a great deal of love and joy into our family and we feel she deserves a second chance. However… we are not prepared to bring her back into our home at this time._

Stef's last words in the courtroom kept repeating in Callie's mind over and over again.

_We are not prepared to bring her back into our home…_

_Not prepared to bring her back… at this time…_

Callie tried her best to shake them away, but it was as if she were actually hearing them being spoken and she was back in front of the judge.

The words went on and on, like the incessant buzzing of a fly that wouldn't leave you no matter how hard you waved your hand to push it towards another direction.

But the words were louder than that.

_Much louder._

Like the screeching of nails against a chalkboard by someone who was trying to torment her.

But it was only Callie in the cell now...

_We are not prepared–_

Callie lifted her feet off of the ground and put her knees to her chest, before she laid her arms on top of them and pressed her palms against her ears, hoping that the pressure would drown out Stef's voice.

_Focus on the silence_, she attempted to train herself. She needed to forget that awful memory of what happened less than five minutes ago.

She thought it'd help to keep her gaze off of both women when she was forced to turn around and leave the room. She didn't want to see the disappointed or disgusted looks on their faces that she had imagined were there. She hadn't wanted to actually put a face in the memory.

Despite all of those things, Callie could've sworn she heard Stef's voice call out her name softly before she exited the courtroom. But then again, it was probably just her mind playing tricks on her.

_They did their part. They did what they had to for their family._

_Don't cry_, she kept telling herself.

Even now in the cell, she was trying to fight back her own tears. Her emotions were overwhelming her, and it was getting harder and harder to keep herself contained.

It was one thing to leave on her own but to have the one person, who made her believe she wasn't worthless, suddenly tell her that she was…That pained her even more than she would've liked.

How stupid was she to ever believe Stef?

…_we are not prepared to bring her back into our home at this time_

_Why did they have to come?_ Callie thought to herself. _Why couldn't they just listen to her when she told her parole officer that she didn't want anyone to be there?_

_Why did they have to tell her to her face that they were giving up on her?_

_Don't cry_, she whispered to herself.

She couldn't think about it.

She couldn't let a tear fall down her cheek because that would just prove she was affected. She had to be stronger than that, even if it was just a façade.

_If she could convince herself that she was fine than she really was, right?_

_What would caring do anyway?_

_Wasn't that what led her there to begin with?_

She let out a deep breath and shook her head slightly.

_Come on. You can do this, she thought to herself. _

_You're fine. _

_This is nothing. _

_They are nothing._

If she kept herself trained on those lies, they'd have to turn into truths.

But forgetting was the first step…


	2. Words Left Unspoken

**Chapter 2: Words Left Unspoken**

Callie's parole officer walked into the cell that had just been opened by the young Hispanic female officer watching her.

"Alright, Callie," Cliff began. "Good thing is I'm trying to get you out of here as soon as possible. You're going to be taken to a girl's home not far from here until the judge believes that you won't run away again."

Callie didn't hear another word passed _girl's home_.

She managed to block out most of what else he said to her thereafter. Only some keywords registered. …_Woman…ten years…juveniles…therapy…roommate…_

Despite his constant rambling about Girl's United, all Callie kept thinking about was how she'd never get adopted after this.

_But she promised herself she wouldn't cry._

_Why should she bother feeling sorry for herself?_

_Lie,_ she remembered.

_Maybe this was for the best._

_She wasn't meant to get adopted._

_She'd do better on her own anyway._

_As long as Jude was okay, that's all that mattered._

"Once you get settled, the judge feels like you won't endanger yourself by running away again, and you're doing everything that you're supposed to do… that includes your school work, actively participating at Girls' United and–"

"How's Jude?" Callie interrupted him since she hadn't been listening to what he was saying in the first place.

"Your brother is doing fine," Cliff informed her. He read about how protective of him and close they were in her file. He was beginning to regret not starting with that information earlier, so that Callie would have actually paid attention to their conversation. "I'm sure he misses you and wants you to come home. But first you need to focus on yourself right now, Callie."

_He's fine_ was all she heard. She was getting better and better at this selective attention thing.

"That's good," she nodded.

"Good," Cliff said. "I'm glad we're on the same page. Now do you have any more questions before–"

"No," Callie interrupted.

_She was on her own._

_She got the point._

* * *

"Okay. Well now that that's settled, your moms–"

"They're not my moms," Callie stopped him from continuing. The expression on her face and her posture depicted utter seriousness. "I told you that I didn't want them there."

"That you wanted them to give up on you," Cliff mumbled as if he knew that Callie really didn't mean it when she said that.

"I want them to adopt Jude," she reminded him. "That's it," she felt the need to reiterate. "I want to move passed all of that."

"All of what?" he questioned in confusion.

"Everyone Stef, Lena, Brandon, all of them."

Cliff sighed slowly before responding. "They want to adopt you too, Callie."

She shook her head as if he had no idea what he was talking about. But she hadn't wanted to get into an argument with him about this. She couldn't let him or anyone else confuse her… and that included Stef and Lena.

"Well that's not what I want," she said flatly as she shrugged her shoulders once and tried to remain as harsh as she possibly could. She needed to stay focused.

_This… This she was doing for herself this time._

"I think you should hear them out at least," Cliff told her. "They–"

"Why?"

"Callie, they came here because they care about you. They want to make sure that you kn–"

"It doesn't matter," she stopped him again and shrugged once more. "I don't need them and I don't want to be a part of their family. I already told you that."

"Then you should be able to tell them that _to their faces_," Cliff reasoned calmly. "I mean, if that's what you _really_ want," he continued as he tried to use child psychology on her.

"I don't want to see them," she insisted. "I have nothing to say and it'd be pointless."

"You don't have to say anything," he offered.

"No," Callie shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest now. She tried to appear as serious and angry as she felt inside.

She wouldn't give them the chance to alter how she felt again.

_She needed control._

"Just no," she repeated.

* * *

As soon as Callie's parole officer walked out into the waiting room, Stef shot up quickly. Lena also stood once she saw him coming towards them.

"Can we see her now?" Stef questioned slowly, even though Cliff could tell that she was nervous and impatient by the shakiness of her voice and in the jumpiness of her body movement. To Stef and Lena, every second that went by without Callie actually knowing _why they did what they did_ was worrisome.

The man just stared back at the two of them hesitantly, unsure of how to tell them what had just happened in his conversation with Callie. "Have a seat," he began while he instructed the two of them to sit with a simple hand gesture towards the chairs they had just been sitting in.

_Why is he stalling?_ Stef questioned in her mind before quickly sitting down to get to the bottom of all of this.

"What's going on? The judge won't let us speak to her? What is it?" the questions rolled off of Stef's tongue as she tried to assess what was happening and rush his answer. She needed to know now. Why didn't he get that?

Cliff pulled another chair closer towards the two women and sat down, crossing his fingers over each other before responding, "Callie doesn't want to meet with you… not right now."

Stef froze as soon as soon as the words escaped his mouth. She thought for a couple of seconds while squinting her eyes at him, hoping that she heard the man wrong. "What? What do you mean? I don't–" she stuttered. "I'm not following," she shook her head slightly as if that couldn't have really been the case.

Lena tried to grab her wife's hand but Stef was clearly not in the mood to for any type of consoling. The brunette noticed that when Stef brought her hand closer towards her own side, though Lena knew better than to take offense of it. Things obviously went differently than they had hoped and Stef was reacting.

Stef was still trying to get over the shock of what had been said to her but Lena had already considered the possibility. "Did she say why? Or when?" Lena asked in a calmer tone.

"Callie refused to speak to either one of you. She says she wants to move passed all of this. But… I'm sure that she's just not thinking clearly right now."

"What do you mean she doesn't want to speak to us?" Stef began to argue in a raised voice. "_You_ promised us that we'd get to expl-"

"I promised that I would allow for both of you to explain why you made this decision after the trial," he interrupted her, before she blamed him for all of this. "But Callie refused my offer. I can't control what she wants."

"You're her parole officer! Can't you just bring us to her for two minutes so that she doesn't think that we've–"

"Callie has rights too, Stef," Cliff argued before taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. "And as her parole officer, I have to gain her trust and ignoring what she wants is not the way to do that."

* * *

Stef appeared baffled by the man's words, but she appeared more so baffled by Callie's resistance to meet with them. She couldn't be _this_ angry with them… She had to have known that there was some other reason for why made this decision. She closed her eyes for a few seconds as she was forced to think about what just happened. The blonde quickly opened them again. "No," she shook her head slightly as she stared at the door that Callie's parole officer just came out of.

"No, what?" Cliff asked in confusion. "Callie doesn't have rights?"

Stef stared back at him desperately but she couldn't hide the anger and fear boiling up inside of her. "You don't understand what's going to happen if you don't let us talk to her," the cop told him.

"If it's not against the law, I can't completely disregard what Callie wants. I'm sorry," he answered in a sincere tone.

"She's going to think that we've given up on her," Lena told him. "If you really want what's best for Callie, you'll let us see her. There has to be some way that you can just do this one thing–"

"What's in everyone's best interest is that I not lose her trust. She already ran away from your home, what's to stop her from running away from Girl's United if she already feels overpowered by everyone else around her. The goal is to make her feel safe and that's what I'm trying to do here. That is my main goal."

"I can't even believe this right now," Stef shook her head in disbelief as if she had just been lied to. "I knew this was a bad idea," Stef silently cursed herself before standing up from her chair and pacing a few feet back and forth. She ran her fingers through her hair and attempted to understand what Callie was thinking.

"I know this is difficult for you two–"

Stef huffed underneath her breath at the man's words.

"Look Stef, I'm not saying that you can't communicate with her. All I'm saying is that you're going to have to do it other ways."

Stef squinted her eyes at the man as if he had just said the stupidest thing in the world. At this point _anything_ that he said sounded absurd to her.

He sighed before answering. "You can write a letter, explaining everything. That way she doesn't feel forced–"

"To read it?" Stef answered loudly with just a hint of sarcasm. The other people in the waiting room stared at her sudden outburst, but she could care less about them at this point. "And what are we supposed to do if she doesn't?"

Cliff glanced down when he hadn't really wanted to explain his next suggestion, but Lena already read his mind.

"We wait..." Lena answered for him as she stood up and grabbed onto her wife's arm. "He's right, Stef. We have to do this at Callie's pace. We'll know where she is and that she's safe for now. She needs time to process all of this."

"That's if she doesn't run," Stef said in a harsh tone before she reached for her purse and pulled away from Lena. And just before walking away, she glared at Cliff as if he had tricked them in all of this.

Lena let out a silent breath as she watched after her wife in defeat. "We'll keep in touch," was all she managed to say to him after all of that.

He nodded understandably.

But Lena knew that Stef would only wait for _so_ long. It wasn't in the woman's nature to wait. Stef was the most impulsive person she knew and wouldn't let this drag on especially when a sense of guilt was involved.

But Lena also knew that they'd have to let things be until they calmed down, until _Callie_ realized what was best…


	3. What if?

**Chapter 3: What If?**

* * *

The drive to Girl's United was awkwardly silent for Cliff. No matter how much he talked or how many questions he asked Callie about her current situation and her willingness to cooperate, her responses were simple yes's and no's. If he had asked an open-ended question, she'd respond with a simple shrug of the shoulders.

Cliff was relatively new to this position and had never had a case like this were the kid just refused to speak. He turned his gaze toward the other side of the window so that Callie couldn't see the annoyed look on his face.

Callie didn't seem to mind it though. Even with the dead silence, Stef's voice had suddenly become somewhat faint.

The girl became satisfied at the fact that the memory was so vague now. She didn't have those exact words repeating in her mind anymore and it was that which offered her some relief.

Instead, she heard a slight ringing sound and she wondered if that was what silence really sounded like.

A chill went up her spine for a reason she couldn't quite understand.

_Why were her senses suddenly heightened? _…Like the sense of a stray cat instead of that of a regular person… An alley cat that would turn it's attention to the slightest sound from the ruffling of the leaves being blown by the wind or the sound of a stranger's voice around any corner. They were trained to keep their senses sharp from fear of being attacked by the other animals or the bad people out there. They'd always run unless they were stupid enough to stay…

Callie _had_ to keep her guard up.

_What were the words again?_ she began to wonder silently.

Something about _not wanting her in their house anymore_...

She couldn't remember them all.

Callie deliberately forgot all of the good things Stef had said in that courtroom first, because those were the lies and those were easiest to get rid of.

_She didn't need to remember._

Though she couldn't help but wish she forgot their faces too, along with where they lived…

A stray cat always goes back to the home that _first_ fed them.

Callie would have to be much smarter than that.

"Alright, Callie. We're here," Cliff said as he pulled over to the curb in front of a brown house.

Callie shook her thoughts away and turned her attention to the huge home, which was less frightening than she had imagined.

But even then, she couldn't help but feel numb. As if she had expected it to be worse than it looked from the outside, but didn't really care that it wasn't.

It was as if she was seeing herself from outside of the car instead of residing in her own body and experiencing it all first hand.

"Are you ready?" the man asked her casually.

_It's only as real as you make it,_ Callie thought to herself. _This didn't have to be as depressing as it would normally feel._

_It was up to her._

_She didn't have to feel anything._

_She didn't have to be affected by any of it._

_...just as long as she kept her eyes open and alert._

Without even answering him, she reached for the car door handle and opened it all the way, closing it shut before staring back at the building again.

No bars on the windows?

No cameras that she could see?

She was beginning to realize that she was only going to be here for as long as _she_ wanted.

_And a stray cat never stayed too long in one place…_

* * *

Stef waited impatiently in the car, recreating the scene in her mind while attempting to understand Callie's thought process in all of this. The blonde was punishing herself for everything that happened and she knew it.

But to Stef, _she'd_ been the one who messed up. _She_ owned all the guilt despite everyone else's involvement in the decision.

Suddenly, Stef's words sounded much harsher to herself then they really had been. She was beginning to question what exactly it was that she said in the room to the judge that would make Callie hate them so much.

_Had she made the wrong decision?_

_Would a simple word change have affected the outcome?_

_Did Callie think they just came there to make her feel worse?_

She was so deep into her own assumptions that she hadn't seen Lena approach the car until she heard the door open.

Even then, she kept her gaze straight on the scene in front of her of the people walking in and out of the courtroom.

This wasn't her idea but she could have done _something_ about it.

They both could've.

When Lena got into Stef's car and closed the door, the two of them sat in silence for a short while. They tried to replay the events that just took place, while involuntarily shifting their eyes at absolutely nothing in front of them.

Lena finally broke the silence first. "What just happened?" she asked as she tried to assess the situation from Callie's perspective but couldn't really do it.

"What just happened is we let that ssscumbag of a parole officer convince us that we shouldn't bring our daughter home," Stef mumbled in a defeated voice. "That's what happened."

"I thought we were doing the right thing," Lena said in a similar tone. "It made sense. I mean... Brandon and Callie can't..." Lena shook her head again as she was forced to reassess _that_ situation again. "We couldn't just… _ignore_ what happened. We–"

"I know," Stef interrupted flatly. "But now…now I'm thinking we could've prevented that on our own," she rationalized.

"Cliff thought–"

"I can care less _what Cliff thought_ right now," Stef voiced angrily as she widened her eyes at her wife. _That name_ was the last thing she wanted to hear at this point. "_We_ thought that _we'd_ get to speak with her before all of thisss," she shook her head, "…before all of this turned to crap," Stef raised her tone. "And now," the blonde let out an exaggerated breath. "Now.,." Stef paused as she thought about all of the worst possible scenarios in her mind. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to relax herself enough to think rationally.

"You don't have to tell me that we screwed up," Lena agreed in a calm tone in order to get her wife to follow suit.

Stef layed the back of her head against the seat and tried to think. "What are we gonna do?" she asked the brunette when she opened her eyes and turned her head towards her.

"I don' think we have a choice. We have to try it this way."

"Cliff's way?" Stef scrunched up her eyebrows and remembered his stupid recommendations.

_A letter?_

_Waiting?_

Writing and waiting were the worst of Stef's skills so she saw no benefit in his suggestions.

Even if they wrote a letter, there was no guarantee that Callie would even read it… or receive it in the first place.

"And you trust Cliff after all of that?" Stef questioned sarcastically.

"This was all Callie, honey," Lena reminded her. "Cliff stuck to his word. He _tried_ to get us to see her. We have to accept that he's not the problem here."

Stef wanted to shake her head in defiance but she knew that what Lena was saying held a lot of truth.

"We need to take things one step at a time," Lena urged. "Callie has to come to her senses on her own."

Stef pressed her lips together even though her mind was rambling a thousand thoughts a second.

She kept her mouth shut and turned on the ignition of her car and put it in drive.

There was no use in questioning what was already done…


	4. Another Me

**Chapter 4**

Twenty minutes inside of Girls United and Callie hadn't even bothered to try and remember everyone's names.

_She didn't have to._

It wasn't like she'd actually want to remember them after this.

_The less she knew the better._

And she preferred to just observe for the time-being instead of talk.

She still wasn't sure what she wanted to do just yet.

The bedroom door opened and a Hispanic girl walked in and stared at Callie with a less than impressed look. It was as if she was saying, _Here's another one that's not going to last here.._.

"Rita wants you," she said instead in a flattened and low tone.

Callie shook her head slightly at how annoying this was beginning to be for her. She kept her gaze focused on the floor as she considered what she should do.

Carmen furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at Callie in confusion. "Did you hear me?" she asked in an unsure tone denoting the need for clarification.

"Yeah," Callie answered in response as she simply got up, walked past Carmen and made her way out of the room and down the hall to the foot of the stairs.

Just as she reached the bottom and turned to walk toward Rita's office, she heard three knocks on the front door.

Callie twisted her body around, unsure of whether to answer it.

_Did Rita say she couldn't?_

_Was that one of the rules she missed when she was completely blocking out the older woman's voice?_

She couldn't remember.

And it was for that reason she contemplated the decision.

Three more forceful knocks on the wooden door rushed Callie's response.

There wasn't anyone else in sight and she needed the noise to stop.

Within two seconds, Callie walked over and unlatched the lock, twisting the doorknob and opening the front door.

Another teen her age stood there and looked at Callie in confusion. Her eyes were squinted and the redheaded girl crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" she asked in an obviously annoyed voice. "What did it take her? A total of three seconds to replace me?" she raised her voice.

Callie furrowed her eyebrows at the pale-skinned girl in front of her, who looked as if she was about to have a temper tantrum.

"Um—" Callie began, but immediately stopped when the girl pushed the door open and let herself in.

"I cannot believe this!" she whined with a half-smile on her face, which showed how surprised she felt about Callie being there. "I can't believe she would do this to me!" she yelled even louder and began to walk down the hall to Rita's office… but walked backwards while continuing to talk to Callie. "When did you get here?"

Callie wondered whether or not she should respond to her.

"Well?" the redhead pushed.

"An hour ago maybe," Callie answered in a flat tone, a tone that depicted uncertainty.

The other girl stopped in her tracks and stared into Callie's eyes for a split second. "An hour ago?" she tried to ask calmly. "…An hour ago?" she repeated as if she were still trying to process the information.

"Where are you staying?" the girl asked a little more seriously.

"Upstairs?" Callie answered nervously.

"No shit, upstairs," the girl said with obvious sarcasm and attitude. "Which room?"

Callie shook her head slightly as she considered how strange the question was. "The one with the…the pink boarder... Why?" Callie asked as she began to wonder why any of that mattered.

Though the other teen ignored her. And instead, she whipped her body around and darted down the hallway.

Callie stood in place, not wanting to get involved in the situation.

_If it were up to her, she wouldn't even be there._

"RITA!" the girl yelled just before reaching the woman's office and pushing the door right open. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

Rita's eyes opened wide just before she saw the girl. Instantly the woman stood up from the desk. "Amanda," Rita's voice sounded as reasonable as it could be right now.

"YOU REPLACED ME?" the teen shouted with a slight head tilt as if she were expecting an unreasonable explanation.

"Alright, hun. Calm down," Rita tried to soothe but her tone remained assertive.

"So what? You can just throw me out like I'm nothing?"

"Amanda, I didn't throw you out," Rita felt the need to point out. "The state did. I told you that you couldn't just leave whenever you wanted to. And _you chose_ to go," Rita's voice was loud just as it always was. She needed to remind the others that she wouldn't tolerate any kind of disrespect and being calm was always something the other girls would take advantage of sometimes.

"Where's Michelle? Did she agree to this?" Amanda spat as she took a quick look outside of Rita's office.

Rita took a deep breath and stared at the girl, which interpreted itself as a refusal to answer.

"No," she stated. "No! She would've fought for me!" Amanda argued.

"She was tired, Amanda. WE all were. I couldn't let you keep getting away with the rules anymore," Rita paused to take deep breath. "…You left the house _whenever you pleased, made all of the other girls lie to cover your ass_… I've finally had enough 'Manda."

Amanda stood there staring at Rita for a long while as if she had just been slapped in the face. As if all she was thinking was _How dare they do this to me?_

Eventually the girl spoke up. "You've had enough? …You've. Had Enough…" She nodded her head understandably when both, her and Rita, knew that this wasn't going to end well. There wasn't a reasonable bone in Amanda's body and especially not when she was coming down. "YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH?" she shouted, which caused Rita's heart to jump from the sudden outburst.

Amanda reached over toward Rita's desk and grabbed all of the other girls' files and flung them up in the air. The hotheaded teen dragged her arms around the desk, making sure to knock everything over, including the small lamp that unplugged itself from the wall.

"GET OUT!" Rita shouted as she tried to reach for the girl in order to escort her out of the building, but she couldn't stop her. Amanda ran over toward the coffee table Rita had across her room and pushed it over so that everything on it toppled onto the floor.

"YOU HERE THAT, LADIES! RITA'S HAD ENOUGH!" she yelled even louder before running out of the room. "AND PRETTY SOON SHE'LL HAVE ENOUGH OF YOU TOO!"

"Amanda, leave before I call the cops!" Rita warned her as she watched Amanda reach for one of the candleholders from the hallway and smash it against the mirror that was hanging above it without thinking twice.

Callie watched with a horrified look on her face as the mirror shattered in pieces, some falling right onto Amanda's shoulders and hands. And strangely, the girl seemed unscathed.

"YOU FUCKING BRING ME HERE AND TELL ME YOU'RE GOING TO HELP ME AND THEN KICK ME OUT!" Amanda shouted at the woman. "YOU'RE A FUCKING LIAR!"

Rita tried to grab hold of Amanda's arm in order to restrain her but Amanda's other hand had held something else.

A broken piece of glass from the mirror shined above her fingers. The cuts seeping through her skin as she gripped it didn't hurt as much as she was hurting on the inside.

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME, RITA! I SWEAR TO GOD!" she shouted as she brought the glass closer towards the older woman's face.

Rita's hands rose up in front of her body. She knew all to well what Amanda was capable of doing when her moods changed and she wasn't going to test her.

"Okay," Rita said. "Okay," she tried again in an assuring and nonthreatening tone.

Though Amanda was erratic, she was still smart.

She knew not to take her eyes off of Rita's body for any sudden movements as she backed away slowly. She smiled slyly, "I can't believe I was so stupid," Amanda continued to shake her head slowly and she looked at Rita with disapproval. She stopped in place and then backed away even more towards the door, "I'm done. I'm done with all of this shit," she told her with the most serious expression written on her face. She lowered her hand with the piece of glass and then turned to face Callie who was merely four feet away from her. She made a small fake laugh as if Callie had no idea what she was getting into. "Coming here was your biggest mistake… She'll just rip out the little hope you have left."

Amanda's eyes were focused on Callie's as if she were talking to her own reflection in a mirror instead of a complete stranger.

Callie gazed back at her awkwardly, with a hint of worry on her face. She wasn't sure whether or not to be frightened by Amanda, though she couldn't help but be.

She also couldn't help but think that she was actually being given the most useful and honest advice than she had received in a really long time.

Amanda watched her as if she were waiting for Callie to just go with her, wherever that was…

But Callie didn't.

Instead Callie turned her attention to the piece of glass in Amanda's hand and then the red rug beneath their feet.

"I tried," Amanda shrugged her shoulders. "I tried to help you," she reiterated before taking her eyes off of Callie and making her way over toward the front door, which was still left wide open.

Rita and Callie watched as Amanda walked out of Girls United for the last time. And when her feet touched the cement outside, Rita quickly grabbed her cellphone from the pocket of her sweater. She called the town's police station, while making her way over toward the door and trying to keep her eyes on Amanda.

Callie glanced around the house once more as if spirits were coming out from the walls and _she had something to fear_. And after a few more seconds of watching Rita and the girls at the top of the stairs, she made her way over toward the living room and took a seat on the sofa.

Rita's voice was blocked out and the events that just took place began repeating themselves in her mind as she tried to figure out what just happened.

_Did Rita really throw her out after gaining her trust like Stef and Lena had done with her?_

_Did Amanda really go insane and destroy Rita's property like Callie had done when she had gotten mad enough?_

_Why had she now regretted following someone who had just frightened her?_

In a split second and without thinking, Callie got up from couch and ran towards the front door, practically knocking Rita over as she made her way passed it.

"CALLIE!" Rita shouted when she saw the new girl fly by.

"SHIT!" she muttered into the phone at the police officer, who she was already talking to.

"CALLIE!" Rita yelled again.

_But Callie blocked out her voice too._

_Before she would get a chance to control her until she had enough…_

And deep down, she knew this could well be the biggest mistake of her life, but still she had hope… even if it turned out to be false.

_All of this had to have happened for a reason, right? _Callie thought to herself as she picked up her pace and went in an unknown direction.


	5. Questioning

**Chapter 5: Questioning**

* * *

_What the hell am I doing? _

The question crossed Callie's mind far too late.

There was no way in hell she'd be able to go back to Girls United. And frankly, she was desperately wanting to.

_Amanda?_

_She didn't even know this girl._

And yet she was still chasing after her and watching the girl run in front of her as if she were watching a flashback on a tv show.

She didn't really _feel_ as if she were actually there.

Callie started to slow down once she was far enough, barely able to keep up with the redheaded teen. She turned around again and she couldn't see Girls United anymore.

Instead, she saw other houses that she never remembered passing on her way there.

_She had to keep moving_.

But once she whipped her body around in search for Amanda, Callie realized that she was no longer in front of her.

The brunette's heart stopped as she stood in the middle of the street, wondering where the ballsy teen could have gone.

_What the hell?_ she thought to herself.

Callie felt like she was going crazy.

_Was she really there?_

_Did Callie just imagine the whole thing?_

_Was she trying to give herself an excuse to quit again?_

Callie felt petrified as she began to look frantically for the girl this time.

"No," she whispered to herself. "She was just here."

She repeated the same thing in her mind over and over again.

_Amanda was real. I know it…_

Wasn't she?

The sudden sound of police sirens became apparent to Callie at that very moment. And the fear of what would happen next became overwhelming for her… too overwhelming to run.

She couldn't bring herself to move a muscle…

* * *

"What do you mean Callie's not coming back?" Brandon asked in an angry tone as soon as his moms disclosed the information to all of them at the table.

Lena and Stef stared at each other for support before either one of them spoke.

"Callie's not coming back right now," Stef repeated.

Jude scrunched his forehead. "You said you still wanted us," he muttered in a worried tone.

_They had to be adopted together._

_He wouldn't stay there, knowing that they had given up on her._

Lena responded quickly. "We do. We do still want you, Jude. The _both_ of you."

Jude stared back at Lena as if he couldn't tell whether or not she was telling the truth anymore. And that was something that made both adults feel nervous.

They couldn't lose his trust too.

But Mariana felt that something else was up. Her moms wouldn't have refused to let Callie back into their home. _That wasn't anything like them. They would've forgiven her._ "So what happened? The judge wouldn't let her come home?" she asked them as if she already knew the answer.

"What a prick," Jesus mumbled under his breath as he put his glass filled with iced-tea town onto the table.

Stef and Lena stared at him with disapproving looks but neither of them were sure of where to start.

"Well, that's what he is," Jesus answered matter-of-factly. "Callie doesn't belong in juvie. She belongs with us."

"Did you tell him? Did you tell the judge?" Brandon pressed.

Stef took a deep breath before answering her son. "No. We didn't."

Everyone at the table instead of Lena looked at Stef with confused looks on their faces.

"Momma and I, _we_, feel like it's in Callie's best interest if she doesn't come home right away." The lie flew right out of Stef's mouth. This conversation was rehearsed before today. But after everything that had happened afterward, she didn't believe any of it anymore.

But what else was she going to tell her kids? _That this was probably the biggest mistake her and Lena ever made? That they may never see Callie again?_

This conversation was the only one that might keep them calm until she figured out what to do.

Lena budded in, "Callie needs to learn some things before she can come home. She acts on impulse whenever she's confused… and she has to learn how to handle stressful situations."

"And she's going to learn that in juvie?" Brandon questioned.

"Why couldn't you just help her here?" Mariana asked her mothers in confusion.

"She's not going to juvie," Lena stopped them before they all thought the worst-case scenario.

"The judge agreed to send her to a Girls Home," Stef told them.

"But why couldn't you just help her here… At home… With us?" Mariana reiterated.

"She didn't let us help her," Stef reminded her. "She obviously didn't trust us to come to us about the... kiss," Stef made a face as she was forced to think about it.

"And what about Brandon?" Mariana asked. "He kissed her and he's still here," Mariana pointed out in an annoyed voice.

Brandon would normally defend himself when his brother or sister would throw him under the bus like this, but his guilt was too strong. He agreed with Mariana for once. _Callie didn't deserve this._

"Brandon didn't run away," Lena informed her.

"But I live here," Brandon defended. "You weren't going to kick _me_ out."

"We didn't _kick_ anyone out," Lena stopped him immediately. She was beginning to get very annoyed that her son would even imply that. But by the way Mariana was shaking her head and by the fact that Jude could barely make eye contact with her, she knew that most of her children disagreed. "This is about what's best for Callie," she continued in a calmer tone. "You all might not understand this, but Callie needs to learn the right coping mechanisms and that running away doesn't help anything. We are trying to help Callie."

"Momma's right," Stef defended. "You guys have to trust us on this."

"Fine," Mariana interrupted. "Whatever. But when is she coming back?" Mariana urged. She needed some answer and verification from her mothers that Callie would be back.

_They all did_.

"We're not sure," Stef answered truthfully. "Soon, I hope," the blonde lied.

They couldn't torture her anymore than the cop was torturing herself after all of this.

"And you still promise to adopt her?" Jude asked both moms.

"Yes," Stef tried to give him an assuring smile through her own distraught emotions. "If that's what she still wants."

"Well…" Jude continued. "When can we see her? I mean… can we still visit her?"

Stef froze at Jude's question, causing for Lena rush an answer. "We'll have to get some more information about the home and talk to the woman who runs it, but I don't see why Callie wouldn't be able to have visitors."

"Can I call her?" Mariana asked. "Did you give her her cell back?"

The doorbell suddenly rang.

"Jesus, would you see who that is?" Lena asked the teen, who sighed and got up from the table.

Stef answered Mariana, "Unfortunately, no. Callie's not allowed to have a phone or make phone calls at Girls United."

"Oh my God," Mariana made a worried face. "Sounds worse than juvie."

"It's not," Lena made a point to inform them. "We did our research before all of this and Rita, the woman who runs the home, has helped a lot of girls like Callie… This is a good thing for her," she tried to reassure them.

Jesus entered the kitchen just as Lena finished talking. The expression on his face was very unsettling.

"Moms…"

Everyone stared at him with confused looks on their faces.

"There's someone at the door for you…"

**To be continued.**

* * *

**Sooooooo. **

**Who's at the door?**

**Are Stef and Lena about to get some bad news?**

**Did that whole thing with Amanda **_**really**_** happen?**

_**Was**_** there ever an "Amanda" to begin with?**

…**I hope I'm making you think :D**

**Feel free to offer your own hypothesis. Those are always fun to read.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	6. Hiding

**Chapter 6**

* * *

_No! _

_Amanda was real!_

_She had to be! _was all Callie could think about.

She refused to believe anything else.

Callie's lips started to quiver from the fear elevating throughout her body. She began to sweat profusely while beating of her heart quickened as the sirens suddenly became louder and louder.

She flinched.

_How could she have imagined her?_

_Imagined everything?_

_It didn't make sense._

_The girl suddenly found it difficult to breathe,_

_Just as she had in the courtroom earlier that day…_

_She couldn't really be going insane._

_Or could she be?_

* * *

"Hey!" someone yelled, drawing Callie out of her state of mind.

But when she whipped her body around all the way, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief from the thought of not having had a hallucination of the entire thing.

Amanda _was_ there.

Callie wasn't crazy.

She froze for a while as she tried to focus on the girl even more and take her in.

"Don't just stand there. Let's go!" Amanda shouted at her from the edge of a red brick house.

Callie turned her gaze down the street and could still hear the police sirens though she couldn't tell if they were coming closer towards anymore. They were still loud but sounded as if they were going in the opposite direction now.

Callie turned to face Amanda, who she realized had started to disappear again. She noticed that the other teen was making no attempt to slow down for her. And from fear of losing her once more, Callie sped up in an attempt to catch up to her.

Just after three minutes of constant running, Callie finally opened her mouth. "Wait! Slow down! Where are we going?" Callie yelled; and Amanda could tell that she was almost completely out of breath.

The redheaded girl made a scrunched up face that Callie obviously couldn't see. "What kind of question is that?" she asked in a loud enough tone so that Callie would hear but low enough so that she wouldn't attract much attention. "Does it really matter? Away. Just... Away."

Callie could feel her legs wanting to give up on her. "I can't run anymore!" she yelled in a desperate voice.

"Yes, you can," Amanda practically ordered in a no-nonsense tone.

"No," Callie allowed her legs to slow down as she gradually came to a complete stop.

Amanda forced herself to slow down once she couldn't hear Callie's feet moving from behind her anymore. She finally turned around to get a look at Callie. "Really?" she said with obvious sarcasm. "Do you wanna get caught?" Amanda asked her.

Callie placed her hand over her upper chest as she tried to feel just how fast her heart was racing. She was almost positive it would pop out of her chest at any moment.

Amanda shook her head disapprovingly while making sure to check their surroundings. Luckily for them, they had made enough turns that they would have a little time before a cop would actually show up.

"Shit," she muttered when she realized that she couldn't just leave Callie. Amanda immediately started reaching for the door handles to the closest cars and pulling on them.

_Locked._

Callie hadn't been paying attention the first time she tried it, but when Amanda moved over towards another car to pull that one's handle.

_Locked._

"Fuck!" She cursed as she ran toward the next car and did the same.

_Locked._

Callie stared at Amanda with a frightened look on her face and watched as the redhead finally got one of the doors to open.

"Yes! Thank you, God!" Amanda said as she turned to Callie. "Come on! Get in!"

Callie glanced at the car with a terrified look on her face.

_Running away was one thing but breaking an entering was another. She knew she wasn't' ready for that._

She shook her head no slightly and didn't change her facial expression at all.

Amanda tried being nice but she had already been accommodating too much for this girl she didn't know. "Get in the damn car before you get us both sent back to juvie!" she ordered in a threatening voice.

Callie couldn't understand why but whenever someone raised her voice toward her, she almost always gave in.

And this time was no different.

She made her way over toward the old green Honda Accord that Amanda had been standing by. The other teen shoved Callie's entire body in before getting in the car herself…

* * *

Stef could tell just by the look on her son's face that something was wrong. And the low tone of his voice as he echoed for their attention didn't help settle that feeling.

"Moms? ... There's someone at the door for you."

Neither woman took their time getting up from the table, and it was Lena who gently pushed her son towards his seat. "Sit. Everyone stay here, please."

She didn't leave much room for argument by the way she practically bolted out of the room, following her wife.

Stef approached the doorway and saw a familiar face in between it, one that first calmed her nerves but then suddenly raised them again.

It was one of her colleagues from the station.

"Brian," Stef called as she appeared closer and crossed her arms over her chest awkwardly. She knew this couldn't have been a casual visit. "What are you…" she fumbled with her word choice.

"Stef, I'm sorry to bother you."

Stef appeared closer and noticed the other officer she hadn't recognized, standing beside him. "We're looking for Callie Jacobs? Is she here?"

"Callie?" Stef repeated. "No," she shook her head. "She's… she's been put in a group home. She's not staying with us right now." Stef squinted her eyes at him as she spoke, "Why-why are you looking for her?" she couldn't help but ask. The blonde was just wondering what on earth the girl could have done to mandate a police visit. None of this made any sense to the woman.

"No, she's not there. That's the problem," Brian confessed. "She left. We need to check and make sure she isn't here–"

"She left?" Lena asked in an astounded tone. "What-what do you mean?"

"What do you mean she left?" Stef repeated as if they must've misheard him.

_They must've misheard…_

"She bolted," Brian clarified. "A couple of hours ago. They lost sight of her. I'm not sure exactly what happened but she took off with this other girl that had been AWOL for a while too. They're looking everywhere for them, but we had to come here to..." he paused as he watched the two of them.

Both women exchanged looks with each other as they listened to officer's words.

"Can we…" Brian said as he pointed inside of their house, implying that he needed to search.

Stef shook her head as she thought about how horrific the day had gotten.

"Yes, go ahead," she answered Brian, not wanting to get in their way. She knew Callie wasn't here but she hadn't wanted to waste any time arguing with him right now. And besides, she knew he was only following procedure. She couldn't get mad at him for that.

Brian, along with one other officer, walked inside of the house and began to search around for both teens.

"Why would she leave?" Lena asked her wife in confusion. "She just got out."

Stef tried to block out her wife's questions. Her mind had been going a million miles a minute with all of the possible answers and new questions.

_How had she had managed to mess up so badly? This would've never happened had they just brought her home like they were supposed to…_

She took a deep breath and let it out in an attempt to calm herself.

"What is she thinking?" Stef mumbled aloud, hoping to gain some sort of insight in Callie's mind by doing so. "Where would she go?"

"What do we do?" Lena asked her wife.

_Writing a letter was certainly out of the question now_ both women quickly realized.

Stef wanted to have an answer for her.

She always knew what to do in adrenaline enticing situations.

But her mind was completely blank for once.

She had no idea.

"Not here!" she heard the other officer yell to Brian as he exited the living room.

Stef closed her eyes for a few seconds before she opened them back up again, "…I'm going to go look for her," she answered with a completely emotionless expression on her face, before grabbing her keys from the hook and heading for the door.

**To be continued…**


	7. Four Weeks Later

**Chapter 7**

* * *

It had been four weeks since Callie ran away from Girls United,

Four weeks since Stef said those words that were still burning a hole through Callie's mind,

Four weeks since she met Amanda.

And in those four weeks, Callie had realized that she hadn't thought about what the hell she had done or was still doing.

She didn't _know_ this girl.

She wasn't even sure she wanted to know her.

Sure, she seemed more experienced at all of this than her,

Sure, it was better to have company than to feel so utterly alone,

But deep down she knew that she was and still is alone.

Having another person around didn't change that.

"I got forty bucks from that guy," Amanda admitted once she ran over to Callie. "What do you think we should do with it?"

_Get food,_ Callie wanted to say. They were down to eating only once a day and it was hardly ever a full meal. Though Amanda didn't seem as bothered by that as Callie was.

She was very eccentric… too eccentric for Callie.

She blew through what little money they had on booze or clothes. Though the brunette stopped trying to convince her to do otherwise, especially when it seemed as if she wasn't being listened to.

"Get whatever you want," Callie mumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest and trembled slightly. She was cold and tired. She was sick of being outside too. It was strange to her that something she'd once longed for was now beginning to sicken her to such an extent.

"Oh, don't be like that," Amanda smiled and nudged Callie's side with her elbow in order to get Callie to smile. "Are you hungry?" she asked.

The brunette wanted so badly to stay mad at Amanda. She needed that anger directed toward someone else. It was easier to direct all of her anger to one person she didn't know than to the people she was really mad at…

The Fosters and most of all HERSELF.

She put herself in this position.

But she was too hungry to resist. She looked up at the redhead and nodded her head softly.

"Okay. Then, let's go get food…"

* * *

"Hey," Lena offered as soon as Stef walked in the door a little after 10pm. "How was work?"

Stef could barely keep her eyes open but she did so for her wife. "Fine," she answered almost robotically.

Lena could tell that by the sound of her voice, she hadn't received any leads about Callie; and that was why she came out of work so late.

"They're going to find her, Stef," Lena tried to reassure the blonde.

"Who?" Stef asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I'm the only one still working the case," she admitted.

"What? Why?" Lena questioned in a flabbergasted tone. "Callie's a minor and she's missing. I don't–"

"Because Callie isn't missing," Stef interrupted but tried to remain calm. "She's a runaway with a record. You saw her file, Lena. The cops over there don't give a damn about what happens to her and Callie doesn't want to be found… Do you know how hard it is to find someone who doesn't want to be found?"

"So they're doing nothing?" she asked in disbelief.

Stef shook her head slightly as she stared at her wife. "They've given her photo to every train station and every bus driver in the city. If we're lucky, maybe something will hit. But until then, I have to keep doing what I'm doing... I won't be the one to tell Jude that his sister is gone... even if it does seem that way."

Stef hadn't wanted to admit it but deep down she wasn't sure if she'd ever see Callie again. She couldn't bring herself to say that out loud. She had felt guilty enough for all of this in the first place.

If they had just spoken to Callie before they got inside of the courtroom or if they had just brought her home that day and figured all of this out together, than they wouldn't be in this predicament.

Callie wouldn't have run away, and they all wouldn't be losing sleep because of it.

"It's cold out," Lena said softly without realizing that she would be making Stef feel even guiltier than she had before by saying it. "I hope she's okay."

Stef opened her mouth slightly to say something but stopped when the house phone began to ring.

"Your food is in the microwave," Lena told her wife as she got up to answer it.

Stef took a deep breath and slowly walked over to the microwave to open it.

"Hello?" Lena began as she picked up the phone from the receiver.

"Lena, is Jude there?" the voice cracked.

Lena froze at the sound of the familiar voice, causing Stef to stare at her strangely when she turned around with her plate. The blonde couldn't help but wonder who was on the other line.

"Callie?" Lena continued.


	8. Time

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Stef's eyes bulged upwards to Lena as she placed her plate of food on the table hard, not caring how loud the sound was.

"Callie?" Lena repeated when she hadn't gotten a direct answer right away. She watched as Stef immediately made her way over toward her. "Callie, honey. Is that you?"

Callie grabbed hold of the metal wire that connected the payphone to the receiver. She knew she'd probably have to speak to them, but it didn't make it hurt any less. "…Hi, Lena. Can I talk to Jude?"

Lena put the phone on speaker so that both her and her wife could hear. "Um, sure," Lena said awkwardly. "Can we talk for a second first, please?" she tried.

Callie closed her eyes.

_This was exactly what she didn't want._

_She didn't need them to explain._

_Knowing that they left her there was enough._

She figured that finding out the reasons why would hurt her even more.

She didn't need more of their words screaming in her mind.

_She'd had enough._

"I just want to talk to Jude, Lena. Please? I promise I won't call you again," Callie assured them. "Just two minutes. I swear."

"Honey, I'm going to let you talk to him. But we need to explain something to you first. We–"

"You guys don't owe me an explanation," Callie was quick with her response.

The teen wasn't sure how much her foster mothers knew… if they even knew about the kiss… if they only thought that she ran away for no reason; but she didn't think any of that mattered now. "Look, I know I messed up. Just please, l need to talk to my brother–"

"Callie, sweets, how are you?" Stef interjected quickly. The blonde knew that her daughter had no desire to let them speak. The cop in her was just worried that they wouldn't get any valuable information out of her if they didn't ask any real questions. She was also trying to stall, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get a trace of her location if she had been calling from a burner cell. And in order to do that, the conversation had to last at least two minutes.

Callie stayed silent. But it didn't seem as if she hung up, which was good.

"Did something happen at Girls United?" the blonde asked her.

"No," Callie answered.

"What about Amanda? Is she still with you?" Stef tried to speak slowly and pause longer between questions.

Lena couldn't tell what her wife was doing. She was beginning to feel impatient and wanted to tell her that she was asking all the wrong questions.

Stef eyed her wife in a way that told her that she knew what she was doing and she needed to trust her.

"Yes?" Callie replied with obvious confusion.

"Okay, good. Are you two safe? Are you staying with someone?"

"None of that matters," Callie muttered softly before she removed the phone from her ear.

"Of course it matters. It matters to us," Stef voiced genuinely.

Callie shook her head, not wanting to be lied to by this woman anymore.

"Hey, we still care about you. We need you to know that. Please, Callie. Tell me where you are so that–"

Callie tightened her lips and shook her head. "I'm not disposable?" Callie interrupted sarcastically. "I'm not worthless?" she continued. "Isn't that what you said?" the teen asked in softened tone. She was trying not to cry but her emotions came off clearly in her voice.

Stef froze for half a second when she realized exactly what Callie meant by it. "…C-Callie," she tried to explain but was cut off when Callie slammed the phone on the receiver, immediately ending the conversation between the two of them.

"I'm not disposable," she repeated to herself.

And _that_ felt like the biggest lie she was ever told.

_What the hell did it say about her since she was the one stupid enough to believe it?_ she wondered.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Amanda asked her when Callie came out of the booth.

"They weren't going to let me talk to him," she concluded.

"You were on the phone for a while," Amanda pointed out. "What'd they want?"

"Nothing," Callie answered in a casual tone. "They just wanted me to give up where I was, so they could send the police to lock me up again... What else would they want?"

Callie continued to walk as far away from the phone as she could, with Amanda walking right beside her.

"If you ask me, your better off on your own anyway. People like that are only there for you when you're doing good. The second you mess up… they realize they want nothing to do with you."

"I know," Callie answered honestly. "That's why I wanted to talk with my brother. Just in case something happened, he knew how to find me… I'm going to have to find some other way to do that now." The girl let out an exaggerated sigh.

"We need to find jobs," Amanda said out of nowhere. Callie was trying to get used to her constantly and randomly changing the subject every time they talked.

"We already tried that. No one's going to hire us. We have no address, no degree, no adult to sign the forms. It's pointless," the brunette said matter-of-factly.

Amanda sighed. "Well, begging isn't getting us anywhere. Is it? …Practically every single person ignores us like we don't even exist and we barely get enough to buy a bagel sometimes."

"You're right," Callie mumbled but then she got an idea. "Maybe we can go to the grocery store and help people put their groceries in their cars. I've seen people do that before. Sometimes they get tips…"

"Like 50 cents!" Amanda blurted out. "What the hell are we going to do with that? Pay for the bus to get us _to and back from the store_? No," the redhead shook her head. "We need to do something else. Because what we're doing isn't working. We have nowhere to go!" the teen felt the need to remind her.

Callie knew that she was right. They were sleeping on the roofs of corner stores since they couldn't even risk going to a homeless shelter from fear of the police picking them up. Juvie seemed like a godsend right about now.

_Why did I ever leave Girl's United?_ Callie tried to remember.

"Something like what?" the brunette asked as she furrowed her eyebrows at Amanda. "Something like…" she paused when she realized what the girl probably meant. "Prostitution?" she asked in a low voice so that no one else could hear.

"I don't know," Amanda said. "Maybe?"

"No," Callie answered sternly. "I can't do that," she shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. She'd rather go to juvie._ That_ she was sure of.

"I'm sorry, I forgot you were sitting on that high horse of yours," Amanda voiced sarcastically. "My bad."

"No, you don't understand," Callie felt panicked all of a sudden at the thought. "I really can't do that."

"You can't or you won't?" Amanda wanted her to clarify. "You hardly want to beg. I feel like it's me doing all the work and you're just here along for the ride. That's not fair either."

Callie stared at Amanda angrily. She couldn't believe what the girl was asking her to do.

But she also couldn't help the fact that she was being made feel guilty and a lot of what Amanda was saying was true. She hated begging and it showed. She never liked the idea of getting something for nothing.

"Look, all I'm saying is that we can make a lot of money real quick. We can get out of here. Get on a bus and go to a different state, get decent jobs… We can SURVIVE. That's really what all of this is about, Callie. Survival. Don't you want to try and make it on your own?"

Callie tried to think of something else.

Anything else that could help them do just that, without losing the tiny bit of dignity she had left.

But their options were obviously limited.

"Callie?" Amanda pressured.

"I… don't know," Callie mumbled in response.


	9. In This Together

**Chapter 9**

As soon as Stef and Lena got off the phone with Callie, the cop knew that she shouldn't waste any more time.

"Damn it," Stef cursed as she stared at the phone with hopes that the conversation lasted at least two minutes. The woman passed the phone over to her wife.

"She hates us," Lena admitted softly. "She's not going to call again," she said as she put the phone back down on the receiver.

Stef had already jotted down the number on her hand and she was walking over to grab her bag again.

"What are we going to do?" Lena asked her wife, who looked like she was just going to leave again.

"I'm going back to work to see if I can get a trace on this number. If not, then I have to see if I can get the location on the call. I think it lasted over two minutes. I should be able to get something from that, hopefully..."

"How long do you think that's going to take?" Lena asked out of curiosity.

"Depends. Shouldn't take long. I'll call you if I find anything," Stef informed her. But the truth was that she wasn't going to tell her wife anything unless she actually _did_ find Callie. If she could keep Lena from getting her hopes up and then not being able to find Callie again, then that's what she was going to do.

The worst-case scenario was that she would get a lead.

"I'm going with you," Lena told her.

"What? No," Stef interjected seriously.

"Stef–"

"What?" the blonde argued. "Lena, I don't know what we're going to find. We might not find anything."

"I don't care," Lena asserted in a persistent tone. "I care about her too, Stef. I was in that courtroom with you. Remember? I'm not letting you do this alone."

Stef sighed and shook her head.

"Don't you think I want to be there when we find her?" the brunette questioned.

"If we find her," Stef remained stern in her voice. "Lena, I don't think–"

"I'm going," Lena answered adamantly. "Honey, I love you but you can't protect me from everything. You can't keep me out of the loop here either."

Stef didn't say anything but she still hated the idea. She knew Lena was right, but Callie had been on her own now for over four weeks. So many scenarios were going through her mind that she really didn't even want to even dwell on for too long. This Amanda person had a rap sheet longer than her arm and none of what she read in her record eased the cop's mind. She almost thought it was worse that Callie was with Amanda than if she were alone.

"...Let me get my coat and tell the kids we're running out," she finished, leaving the blonde without another word in the matter.

Stef watched helplessly as her wife left the room and ran her fingers through her hair. She knew that she was going to blame herself if they didn't find Callie tonight and she had dragged Lena along with her for the ride for nothing.

* * *

Callie paid close attention as Amanda made her way over to a complete stranger's car. She told the brunette that she was going to do this with or without her but she wouldn't take care of them both. Callie knew that Amanda would be pissed at her if she didn't follow though and get some money somehow.

It was two hours after she got off the phone with Stef and Lena and she was beginning to feel almost numb. As if she wasn't really outside freezing herself to death and she was seeing through someone else's eyes. Amanda got into the car and part of Callie wanted to stop her. She knew how dangerous this was, but there wasn't anything she could do that would prevent Amanda from going. Callie couldn't help but be afraid of the other teen either, after witnessing how she reacted towards Rita. She didn't want to get on her bad side.

_What the hell do I do?_ she thought to herself as she watched the car drive away and leave her alone on the street.

She reached into her pockets hoping to find some change so that she could catch a bus somewhere. It was what she did best when she felt like this.

She ran.

When she pulled her hand out of her pocket, all she only found where seventy-five cents, certainly not enough for even a bus.

_And where would she even go?_

_Would she just ride it to stay a little warm?_

"Hey, sweetheart," an older black male that had just came out of the liquor store greeted her. "What's a pretty thing like you doing out in the streets this late at night?" he asked her.

Callie looked him in his eyes and couldn't help but get a weird feeling as soon as she did. He was drunk. She could tell almost immediately but she knew better than to say anything to provoke him.

"I gotta go," she said casually as she began walking towards the corner store that was only a few feet away.

"What did I say?" the man yelled at her from afar but Callie refused to turn her head back.

_Crap_! Callie wanted to scream as soon as she got in. She had no clue what to do. She didn't have a plan. No money. No job. No one she could actually count on.

_Was he going to follow me in here?_ She realized she hadn't even considered that, which caused her to keep glancing at the door.

The young Hispanic cashier kept watching her with beady eyes as if he was just waiting for her to steal something. She couldn't blame him either. She was dirty and she was pretty sure she smelled awful too. She didn't look like she had a dime on her.

She went all the way to the far back of the store in order to get the cashier's eyes off of her.

_Who knows? Maybe I can find something for fifty cents_, she wondered.

It didn't help the situation that Amanda's suggestion kept repeating in her mind.

What made it worse was that the longer she stayed by herself, the more and more she considered going through with it.

She knew that it was dangerous and stupid, but so was this.

She wouldn't be of any use if she couldn't even feed herself…

But then the feeling that she felt when that guy approached her outside rushed back to her.

She couldn't even handle that. She couldn't even handle some strange man talking to her. How would she ever be able to deal with what Amanda ran off to do just minutes ago?

She wasn't as strong as her.

And Amanda wasn't her friend.

All of a sudden, Callie wanted to get as far away from the girl as possible.

She wasn't helping anything.

The teen started walking toward the front of the store again so that she could see if the man was still across the street but the young cashier, who had been on the phone, stepped in front of her after he hung up.

"Excuse me, miss," he greeted.

Callie stared at him as if she already knew what would happen next but this time she didn't do anything. She didn't steal and cause a scene. He had no right to detain her.

"I have to go," she told him plainly as she tried to head for the door again but he moved with her, blocking her path.

She scrunched her eyebrows at the guy. "You can't keep me here," she voiced harshly. "I didn't do anything and I know my rights."

_She was a fugitive. She had no rights_, she remembered.

"I'm trying to help," he informed her in a calm tone.

Callie's expression shifted from fear to confusion.

_What on earth did this guy think I needed help with?_

"You need money, right?" he asked her as if he knew she had nothing.

Callie felt a chill go up her spine.

She already decided she wouldn't do that.

She began to shake her head.

"Food?" he tried.

"I'm not that hungry," Callie informed him. "I'd rather starve," she answered quickly as she began walking away again. This time the man didn't jump in front of her.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he answered with a hint of sincerity in his voice. "I just thought you needed help."

Callie stopped.

Not because she really wanted his help but because she saw that the older man that had crept her out before was now waiting directly outside the glass door, staring at her with widened eyes. He scared her even more than the cashier did.

She took in a deep breath and turned around to face him.

She'd take any help she could get right about now...


	10. Cat and Mouse

**Chapter 10**

* * *

Callie followed the young guy upstairs, and she couldn't help but wonder what the hell she was doing. Nothing about this was good. There wasn't anything about this that felt felt safe… but she didn't know what to do anymore.

_ She had no one_, she remembered again.

_ We feel she deserves a second chance… _

Stef's voice was coming back. Callie closed her eyes and felt a chill go up her spine as she was began to recount the memory.

_We feel she deserves a second chance… _

Callie wanted nothing more than to make it stop.

_HOWEVER–_

Why couldn't she drain her out? Why did the woman's voice have to follow her everywhere? And it was getting louder and louder with every step she took.

_However… we are not prepared to bring her back into our home_…

_Back into our home… _

_at this time…_

Why couldn't she forget? She had done it before.

Why was she still wasting her time thinking about them?

That time was over.

It was long over.

Callie hated that she was beginning to feel as if she were being desperate.

And she was.

Wasn't she?

Who else would take help from a random stranger?

Two random strangers come to think about it.

How did following Amanda and this cashier seem like the most logical thing to do all of a sudden?

She should've snuck on a bus, she was beginning to realize. Something was telling her to turn back.

She still had time.

Callie heard the guy open the door at the top of the stairs. "It's not much," he confessed as he held the door open for her. "But if you're hungry or want to take a shower, it should be fine."

Callie stared at him for a while as she contemplated her decision.

As if it were really a decision…

Accept the help or go out and follow Amanda's advice…sell yourself.

Being indoors at least seemed better than freezing her butt off outside.

She slowly walked up until she got into the doorway. She stared at him again and wondered if she should ask the question that had been burning a hole through her mind. "…Wh-why are you doing this?"

He squinted his eyes at her. "Doing what?"

She tilted her head, wondering if he really didn't understand the question. "Helping me? …I mean, …you don't even know me."

He nodded, "Because… some people… are to proud to ask for help, even though they know they need it."

"And you know this about me?" she retorted. "Just by meeting me like what? Five seconds ago?"

"Yup," he answered simply. "I used to be in your position. I can tell a runaway when I see one."

What did he mean by that? Callie wanted to ask. But she was too exhausted to get into a long conversation. She'd barely slept in weeks.

"There's clean towels in the cabinet in the bathroom," he pointed as if he knew exactly what she wanted.

Reluctantly, she nodded and accepted his help.

When Callie was done, she dried her hair and got out of the bathtub. She leaned down and grabbed some clothes out of her backpack, first lifting a pair of black sweatpants to sniff them first. They didn't smell _good,_ she knew. And they were very wrinkled. But she didn't really have a choice. She didn't exactly have money to go do laundry before she got where she was.

She quickly wondered if the guy she met had a washing machine.

_Why didn't I even ask for his name?_ she thought to herself.

_Did he say it before ,when I was talking to him, and I hadn't been paying attention?_ She shook the thought out of her mind and put the pants and a dirty white t-shirt on.

It was Amanda's shirt, she remembered. She forgot to give it back.

Callie stood there for a short while, staring at herself in the mirror. She looked completely disheveled and _different,_ most of all. Her hair was a mess, even while wet, and she looked unkept even though she was technically clean.

She felt lost.

Like the stray cat she had once associated herself with.

All she wanted to do was remove herself from her body. She wanted to go numb and pretend as if she were on the outside, looking in, rather than accepting this new reality she had created.

And she knew that she couldn't feel bad for herself.

This was HER doing.

SHE created this.

All of it.

_We are not prepared to bring her back into our home at this time..._

_We are not..._

Even that.

That was her doing.

If she had never kissed Brandon, none of this would have ever happened.

Stef and Lena wouldn't have abandoned her like they did.

She and Jude would still be together.

And she wouldn't be this desperate piece of filth.

She wouldn't be this person accepting a place to take a hot shower from a complete stranger, whom she never even bothered to get a name from.

_But the stray cat doesn't cry._

_He finds a way to ADAPT. He sleeps under cars to keep warm and preys on insects, birds, and mice to feed on. _

_He survives._

Maybe that was Callie's only goal, she realized.

Maybe it wasn't too late to meet up with Amanda.

That's all the girl was trying to teach her, right?

Suddenly, she was jolted out of her mind by three loud bangs on the bathroom door. Immediately afterward, a male's voice followed. "POLICE! CALLIE JACOB, OPEN UP!"


	11. People Unexpected

** Chapter 11**

_1 ½ years later_

"Callie Jacob," one of the female correctional officers called out loud as she waved the teen forward.

Callie walked toward her in her beige prison attire and tried not to look at all of the angry glares she was receiving from the other inmates.

She'd been there too long and too many times to not understand why.

And today she was finally being released.

March 7th, 2016.

A year later and an inch closer to hitting the age mark.

She was almost 17 and a half now.

All she need to do was survive the next seven months in whatever hell hole they put her in.

That she could do.

She was smarter than she had been before she got caught. And she wasn't desperate anymore.

Soon, everything else would be in her _own_ hands.

* * *

"Callie," a familiar voice said as he approached her once she received her belongings from the front desk.

She stared at him with obvious confusion and took a short while to finally respond. "...Bill? What are you–"

He smiled. "I've come to take you to your new placement."

"I thought that was Cliff's job?" she muttered as she grabbed hold of her bag and flung it over her shoulders.

"Cliff couldn't make it. He got held up. And in the event that a parole officer can't show up to your release, your caseworker can-"

"I get it," Callie stopped him. She didn't like the idea of seeing Bill. He reminded her too much of Stef and Lena.

"Where are you taking me? Another group home?" the teen questioned.

"Nope," Bill answered nonchalantly. "You'll be staying with the Ringers. The judge didn't want to send you to another group home, being how you barely spend an hour at the last one before you ran away again," he answered.

_Ringer? Where had __I__heard__ that name before?_ she wondered.

She never stayed with a family that went by the Ringers, so it couldn't have been that bad. The girl nodded and followed Bill outside.

As long as she wasn't forced to see Stef and Lena again, she'd be fine.

"How's Jude?" Callie asked him when they got into his car.

"I'm not his caseworker anymore, Callie. He got adopted. Remember?" Cliff asked with sudden worry evident in his voice. The last thing he needed was for the girl to have developed some sort of disorder over the past year.

"No," Callie shook her head. "I know that. I just… Don't you see them?"

"Not often," Bill answered honestly. "I'm sure Jude is fine. If you'd like, I can call him right now so you two can speak?"

"No," Callie was quick to answer him. "Not yet," she finished. There was no way she'd talk to her brother without having a plan first.

And she wouldn't have a real plan until she turned 18.

"Which reminds me..." Bill continued as he pointed to his the backseat of his car. "Can you grab that briefcase for me?"

Callie sighed and reached for the black leather bag that he was pointing to. It was pretty torn up and worn. She was almost positive it was the same bag he had when he came to get her and Jude when she was ten. "I think you need a new bag," she told him as she brought it to the front seat.

"No way. This one is lucky," he asserted as he pointed to the front zipper. "Do me a favor and open the front part and take out what's in it."

Callie unzipped the bag and removed an envelope. Immediately, she noticed that it read Callie on the front side.

It was Stef's handwriting.

The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head before beginning to roll down the window.

"Don't do that," Bill ordered.

"Why not?" Callie questioned. "It's just words on a piece of paper."

"Well, I promised them you'd read it in front of me. They wanted to tell you something important and they didn't think you had received any of the other ones."

"Oh, I received them," Callie assured him. "And you can tell Stef and Lena that too," she spat.

"But did you read them? Did you even bother to let them explain?" Bill asked her.

"Yes," Callie said with certainty, even though she was lying through her teeth.

The truth was that she had chucked every single letter she had ever got from them, even the one's from Jude because she was afraid she'd still read their words.

And at first they came on a weekly basis, then monthly, then none at all.

The girl decided that it would be best to never read a single word.

She needed a clean break.

She needed to start over.

"And I don't feel like hearing their lies anymore," she answered honestly, before she threw the white envelope out the window. And it happened to quick for Bill to stop her. "Their part in my life was over," she told him. "You'd think they would've gotten that by now."

"Callie," he tried to soothe.

"They're only doing this for Jude," she informed him. "You can tell them I have no inclination of abandoning him. I just need some time first before I can come and see him."

"I can take you to see him now," Bill tried to sway her. He had a feeling that if Stef and Lena just got a chance to see Callie face to face and explain, they could at least make her see that they still cared.

"Not now," she answered.

* * *

As soon as Bill turned into the driveway of the Ringers' house, which was huge according to Callie, she decided she needed to ask. "This is where they live?"

Bill nodded. "Yup."

"Who are these people? ...Why would they want to take in someone like me? They obviously don't need a check that badly," she tried to smile as if it were a joke. But the truth was that she was especially nervous about this. It wasn't making any sense to her.

"They're good people," Bill said as he got out of the car.

Callie reached for her door handle. "Until they're not..."

He said the same thing about Lena before she met her.

"Do they even know I was in juvie?" she asked him reluctantly.

"Yes, of course," Bill assured her as they both began walking toward the door.

"What, do they have like 20 kids and need a free babysitter?" she continued with her questions and watched him for any signs of nervousness as he rang the doorbell.

"In about a second, you're going to wish that was the case," he answered.

Callie froze for much too long, before she could ask Bill her next question. And within just a few seconds, the door flew open and she was greeted by a man, someone whose face she tried so hard to forget.

_It was Judge Ringer._

**To be continued...**


	12. Things Unresolved

**A/N: So I know some of you think this story is dragging, but I had decided not to go with a quick reunion this time. Please be patient with me though, there isn't one of my readers who's more impatient than me. I can promise you that. It's been difficult for me not to jump right to that part. You have no freaking idea. But we're only getting closer and closer to the end so something's gotta happen soon. And btw, let's pretend the a-hole judge from the show was the same one that had sentenced her to go to Girl's United. I'm just remembering that it was a woman who put her there. Whoops! My fault. Let's just go with it okay? :)**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

* * *

Callie stared in awe at the older man and for much too long. The judge had that look, the same look he had in the courtroom when he sentenced her the second time she ended up in juvie. It was as if he was still judging her based on her record and nothing more, despite the next words that came out of his mouth.

_Or maybe she was just imagining it._

"Why hello, Callie. It's nice to see you again," he said with an almost genuine smile.

_There was no way this could be real_, she told herself even though everything and everyone surrounding her told her otherwise.

"Come on in," he said as he opened the door for both Bill and the girl. Bill walked inside first. Callie followed him, but slowly, as she ran through everything that had happened since she met the fosters in fast motion.

She hated Bill more than ever before, and he could tell by the glare in her eyes that he knew that. _Why didn't anyone understand her desperate need for a clean break? She needed to remove herself from anyone that reminded her of those people..._

* * *

Lena walked over toward Stef, who had been staring through their kitchen window at the tree in the backyard. The brunette didn't know this, but Stef had been remembering when their foster daughter used to sit next it, playing her guitar on the weekends.

_That's who Callie was now_, Stef tried to remember.

_Their ex-foster daughter and Jude's sister._

_Because that's what the teen wanted to be._

It had been a year and a half since the judge sentenced her to juvie for that long. He didn't think she'd learned her lesson by running away yet again. And even though she nor Lena showed up that day in the court since she wasn't notified until afterwards, she couldn't help but feel like it was all her fault.

And still, she missed her.

Lena placed her hands on Stef's shoulders and stood behind her while she gazed outside with a coffee mug in her hands. The brunette placed her chin on Stef's right shoulder and tried to embrace her from behind. "You okay?" she asked as she ran her hand up and down Stef's arm to comfort her.

Stef didn't move her gaze from the tree for a second. "Callie's getting out today," she answered her wife simply as she took a sip of her coffee.

Lena nodded, "I know." Of course, she knew but after the wall Callie had put up because of them, she felt that there wasn't anything they could do anymore. They wrote letters and never got any responses... and Callie chose to run, not once but twice. Lena was tired of chasing after someone that didn't want anything to do with them. And Callie had good reason. She felt like they abandoned her by telling her she couldn't come home. She lost their trust completely and the woman felt like it was a complete waste trying to gain it back.

"I miss her," Stef admitted in soft tone as she turned her head to meet her wife's eyes.

Lena nodded slightly. "I know. Me too." '...Honey, just because she's getting out today doesn't mean she's coming back," she voiced to her wife "You know that, right?". Lena hated to admit it, but she was tired of filling the woman with false truth's just as much as Stef was tired of waiting. It took time but Lena convinced herself that if Callie still cared about them, she would've responded to even one of their letters. She would've made the attempt to call them and hear them out. She felt just as betrayed by Callie's refusal to do either of these things, than Callie was.

"I know that," Stef lied and offered a weak smile her wife. "...After all of this time, I should know that," she confessed. "I just hate how all of this turned out."

"I do too," the brunette responded honestly.

Stef stared back outside through the window. "I don't even know where they placed her. Or if she's safe. The court can't even tell me that," Stef shook her head. "They told me that since we're not her legal guardians anymore, they can't give out any confidential information in regards to a minor. Can you believe it?" Stef asked sarcastically but clearly on the verge of tears.

Lena hugged her wife and kissed her on the cheek. "One day, I promise you, this won't hurt so badly."

_FLASHBACK_

_It was the end of the workday and Stef had been escorted out of the courthouse when she demanded to see the judge dealing with Callie's case. She heard that Callie had been found by the police from a call from an anonymous lead and for that she was thankful. But this still hadn't been handled well._

_So when she had demanded to speak to the judge before the hearing, to explain what had been going on and what Callie was thinking, she hadn't expect the outcome. To her surprise, the same judge who placed her in Girl's United was the same judge handling her case now. She knew that there was no way he'd go easy on her._

_She didn't care about making a scene when she was forced to speak to the secretary at the front desk, until the security in the courthouse had to physically remove her from the premises. _

_But they couldn't stop her from waiting outside._

_As soon as she saw him open the double doors, she ran towards the man. "Your honor!"_

_He finally got a look at her. "Are you the woman who was demanding to see me about the Callie's Jacob's case?" he asked her with apparent anger in his voice._

_"Yes," she answered quickly. "But it was really important that I'd speak with you–"_

_"Do you wish to get arrested?" he asked her with complete seriousness._

_She took in a deep breath as she took in his words. But even that wasn't enough from saying what needed to be said. "Look, Callie Jacob is my daughter. I can't let you–"_

_"You were one of the foster mother's, correct?" he interrupted her as if he was finally beginning to understand._

_"Yes, technically, but-"_

_"Didn't you tell me in court, that you didn't want to take her home with you not that long ago?"_

_Stef sighed deeply from the exhaustion of having to explain herself over and over again. "Yes, but I didn't mean that. We want her home with us. We KNOW that she belongs with us."_

_"If you really believe that, then why would you allow me to place her in a Group Home to begin with?" he questioned out of curiosity._

_"Because..." Stef stopped when she realized it wouldn't be a good idea to explain Callie and Brandon's relationship to the man in charge of where Callie's future. "We were dealing with something at home and we thought Callie needed to learn how to better handle how she coped with her feelings, elsewhere."_

_"She will," the man answered her._

_"What?" the cop asked out of confusion. Her face straightened when she got a hunch about what he'd say next._

_"She'll have plenty of time to deal with all of that and more… in juvie. I've just sentenced her to one and a half years. Apparently a couple months there and the Group Home weren't enough."_

_Stef's entire posture changed. "For what?"_

_Judge Ringer stared at her as if he shouldn't even have to explain himself to the woman. But he answered her anyway, since he was afraid she would just come back if not. "I tried going the nice route by sending her to Girl's United. I really did. But she just ran away again. Didn't even decide to stay there for an entire hour, let alone the two months I gave her. What other choice did I have?"_

_Stef's mouth opened as she struggled with what to say next. "You could've contacted us."_

_"You aren't her legal guardians. She ran away from your home. That's the last place I would ever put her–"_

_"She only ran away because she didn't want to ruin her brother's chances of getting adopted," Stef interjected._

_Judge Ringer furrowed his eyebrows at the blonde. "Now, why would she do that?"_

_Stef's lips tightened. She hated that he was asking her questions that she knew she couldn't answer honestly._

_The judge wrapped his fingers around his briefcase a little tighter and shook his head before beginning to walk away. "If you refuse to tell me what's going on, you can't ask me to help you."_

_Stef took in a few deep breaths through her nostrils as she contemplated the decision in her mind. She could be making things a thousand times worse, if she said anything. That she knew. _

_But not saying anything was getting her nowhere._

_"Wait!" she yelled after him._

_He stopped._

_FLASHBACK ENDED_

To be continued…


	13. Reprieve

**Chapter 13**

* * *

Callie held her breath as soon as Bill finished discussing what he had to with Jerry, which was Judge Ringer's first name. She couldn't help but feel suddenly even more overwhelmed by all of this.

The judge's wife sat in the living room on the sofa opposite from Callie. She had long red hair and green emerald eyes that the teen felt were piercing a hole right through her. But in reality, the woman seemed to be in just as awkward of a position as Callie was.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Karen asked.

Callie looked back up at her and swallowed hard before answering. "No... Thank you," she added.

Judge Ringer closed the door and turned back to look at Callie and his wife. Karen looked at him and spoke through eye contact. It was as if she was saying, "Well? Aren't you going to tell her?"

He breathed in heavily through his nose, "Dear? Some ice tea would be nice," he began and his wife knew what that meant. Karen smiled at Callie and stood up from the sofa and made her way out of the living room.

"So, Callie?" He began while he walked over toward the other couch and sat down. "I bet you're wondering why you're here?"

She stared back at him, but her eyes told him everything.

"Well," he continued. "I don't blame you... To be honest, I was a little surprised myself when I found out this morning what was going on."

I'm

She furrowed her eyebrows a him.

What the hell is he talking about? She wondered. How could he be surprised?

"My wife," he answered simply. "That's how this happened," he said casually. "I made the mistake of telling her about the case and telling her what I planned to do with it. And if it were up to me, and I thought it was... But if it had been up to me, I was going to leave you in juvie until you aged out. As cruel as you might think that is, it seemed like the best thing to do in this situation. I mean, let's be honest," he smiled slightly, "You would've never stopped running away no matter where I put you right?" He asked her and expected an honest response.

Callie sat in silence. What could she really have to say to the man at this point?

Jerry nodded, "Well, my wife disagreed. She read your file when I was going over it one night and told me to give you a second chance. And anyway, I told her that there was no point since you were a risk, and there wouldn't even be a foster family that would take on that kind of a challenge, so I thought I was making the right decision. We argued that night obviously," he made a face. "But she ended up winning... She made me promise that if they found a foster family to take you in on such short notice, that I'd reconsider changing your release date."

She stared at him and it was obvious that she still didn't understand why she was there in the first place.

He smiled, "Well, low and behold, my lovely wife made the call to your social worker and well... Now you're here... In my living room." He shook his head as he finished repeating what just happened. "...But, that doesn't mean that you're going to stay here. I want to make that clear," he added carefully. "It just means that my wife thought I needed some time to re-evaluate your case and forced this on the both of us, so?"

Callie accepted the situation but still didn't understand completely. "I'm not sure what you want me to say?" She admitted. "I mean, you just said it yourself that there isn't another foster family that would be willing to foster me..."

"But I can send you to another group home. Maybe not Girls United anymore," he pursed his lips and intertwined his fingers when he brought his hands together. "But I don't feel comfortable doing that without believing that you're not going to run away again."

"I won't," she responded simply.

"Not to be blunt, Callie, but why should I believe you?"

"Because," she started. "Because I only have 6 months left. It'd be stupid."

"6 months?" He questioned. "6 months before you turn 18?" He added for the need of clarification.

"Yes, what else would it be?"

Jerry tried not to let her smart mouth get to him since he wasn't in the courtroom anymore and his wife was probably eavesdropping.

He nodded.

"You know..." He decided to tread lightly. "Your last foster mother came to see me on the day of your hearing and a few times after that, to my surprise."

Callie rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.

He seemed surprised by her reaction and eyed her carefully before his next sentence, "That was my reaction too," he smiled. "She doesn't seem to give up," he observed.

"No," she answered.

"You know," he began, "...most kids actually accept that annoying trait, of parents being relentless when it comes to their children, as love, believe it or not."

"Yeah?" Callie said sarcastically. "Well, she's not my parent," the teen voiced coldly. She couldn't take this anymore. She couldn't keep quiet about it anymore. "And I'm sorry but if you and your wife thought that you were going to bring me here to try to get me to see that the Fosters love me...like some sort of– last attempt at an intervention or something, then you're wrong. Everyone's trying to make me feel something for that family when I don't, and I'm getting really tired of it. I can' feel anything for them just because other people want me to."

"You don't care about Stef and Lena?"

"No," Callie tried to answer honestly. "Not for anyone in the entire family except for my brother. And I can't just live there for him either. I have to do what makes best for me," the girl's head continued to shake from side to side and then she stopped. "And if that means that you have to leave me in juvie until I turn 18, then fine. As soon as these 6 months pass, I'll be old enough to get my own place and get a job without needing anyone's permission, so I really don't care what you decide to do. I just rather go anywhere else except for the Fosters."

Judge Ringer took in Callie's words and nodded his head. "Okay," he answered simply. "Understood."

* * *

Callie sat in the living room by herself for what felt like days. But in reality, it was just a couple of hours since Jerry left her in the room with the TV. Her eyes were focused on it and she was changing the channels consistently, but she wasn't actually watching anything. Her mind was just producing a million thoughts per second.

How could they manage to still screw things up for her all this time later?

If Stef never came to see him, then she wouldn't be in this predicament to begin with.

She wouldn't be in the judge's home.

She would still be in either juvie or a group home.

Not being given an ultimatum that she didn't even want.

She didn't want anything to do with the Fosters.

Why couldn't anyone understand that?

Why were they all forcing her to go back there when they know what they did to her?

Cliff... Bill... And now even the judge and his wife?

_What the hell did they know?_ Callie thought to herself before she heard the door swing open and saw Jerry come back in. "Okay," he said as he walked over back toward the couch and sat across from the teen again. "Okay," he repeated. "Callie."

Her eyes widened a little and she lifted her brows as she waited for him to give whatever consequence was due. She was getting really tired of the consequences she was constantly being given, and yet she remembered being placed in Girls United because she didn't "learn" from them.

How could she learn from them if they were constantly being given to her?

For things she did and didn't do...

It didn't make any sense.

"So I've come to a decision," Judger Ringer continued.

Callie tried to just block out his words. She knew what he was going to say. He made his position very clear from the beginning. It just amazed her that he was really drawing this whole thing out as long as he was.

"Now... I don't see any point in putting you in another foster home or girl's home, when it's obvious that you won't remain in either for very long, correct?"

Callie blinked but said nothing.

"You've runaway from both of those at least once, so it'd be extremely stupid of me to assume you won't just do it again."

Callie took in a deep breath.

He didn't trust her.

That she knew already.

"And I don't wish to place you anywhere that you don't feel comfortable being. And even though, I do feel that the best place for you to be right now is with someone who loves you enough to risk going to jail for you, and yes," he answered the confusion written all over Callie's face. "Stef stopped by my office several times to discuss your case and tried to persuade me into making you talk to her. But I couldn't agree to that... I couldn't agree because I do feel that you have the right to say no in regards to being a part of that conversation. And I have to respect that."

Callie finally felt as if a huge weight had just been lifted off of her. She knew that there was a 100% chance of going back to juvie now, but the fact that she didn't have to face Stef or Lena ever again gave her an apparent sense of reprieve.

"However," Judge Ringer continued, "I don't see how putting you back in juvie is going to help you gain anything, especially when you've already served your time," he paused for a brief second before continuing. "...You'd have permission to do whatever you wanted as soon the 6-month-mark hit, so..."

Callie felt the anger boiling inside of her as the man spoke. "You can't do this," she shook her head. "That's not fair," she told him. "You can't keep me locked up for longer, when I didn't even do anything."

"Actually," Jerry interrupted. "I can," he informed her. It was a habit not to let anyone talk down upon him. He had to maintain that level of authority all day at work. It was a hard one to break and he immediately felt a little bad for doing it in his own home. He took in a deep breath and changed his tone to a much calmer one. "But that's not what I was thinking. I wanted to tell you that since the only thing stopping you, from living the life you want to live, is these next 6 months, than maybe we can just bypass the wait," he finished as he crossed his fingers over each other and waited for a response from Callie.

But Callie was still trying to process what he just said and was almost certain that she misheard his words completely.

* * *

What if she had imagined it just like she thought she had imagined Amanda at one point? She thought she lost her mind before... Who's to say that it wasn't happening again?

"Your honor," Callie voiced in confusion, "I don't..."

He let out a deep breath and to be honest, he couldn't even believe he was suggesting it. He had never granted emancipation to a minor in the ten years that he had become a judge, the last thing he had expected to do was grant emancipation to a runaway and troubled teen.

But Callie didn't have parents. She wasn't like those other kids that came into his courtroom for an emancipation hearing because he/she wanted to get away from his/her parents. Callie was a ward of the state and she'd been through too many different homes and had too many run-ins with the law. Stef and Lena were never her legal guardians, and she hadn't spent her entire life with them.

But he also couldn't avoid Stef's dedication to help Callie. He knew that someone wouldn't go through all of this trouble if this girl was really as difficult as her record pegged her to be. She had to be more than what her file showed.

"I'm willing to grant your emancipation, Callie. BUT," he voiced strongly. "BUT there will be conditions if you take me up on my offer."

Callie froze as she listened carefully to him. She was so obviously eager to listen to his words now. It felt like someone was finally listening to her for the first time since… she couldn't even remember anymore.

"You have to work to be able to financially support yourself."

That one Callie knew.

_Was she supposed to get a job before then?_ She wondered. She couldn't get a job without an ID. "How..." she stopped when she realized she didn't know exactly know how to answer Judge Ringer's statement.

"My wife, Karen, has decided to take you on as your employer. You will start as a file clerk in her office for now."

She nodded and tried to hide the smile that wanted so badly to form on her face.

"We will find somewhere affordable and decent for you to live. You will need to be able to maintain residency there on _your own_," the judge added. "It's important for you to realize that you're going to be _completely_ on your own."

Callie nodded. She knew that she would have to work hard, but she didn't care at this point. This was something she had wanted for years. She didn't want to depend on anyone for anything anymore, especially over the roof she lived in.

_We are not prepared to bring her back into our home at this time._

She would never have to hear those words or have someone utter anything even remotely similar ever again, she realized.

She would finally gave a sense of security.

"I understand," she nodded.

"You also need to either stay in high-school or get your GED, whichever you feel is more do-able. I definitely can't grant you emancipation, if you're not planning on going back to school because that's just–"

"Proves I'd be too immature to be an adult," Callie finished for him. His expression showed that he was obviously impressed by her words. But still, Callie honestly had no inclination to give up her education. She knew it would be something she really needed, if she didn't want to be a waitress or something alike for the rest of her life. "Don't worry," she said. "I never planned on giving up on school."

"Well, good," he answered. "There's something I've learned about you that makes me feel a little more comfortable about this," he pointed out honestly. "I'm taking a risk here, Callie. I hope you know that."

"I know," she responded.

"We're willing to help you get on your feet now, but it's up to you to keep it that way. That's what being an adult is. Now, you need to decide. Is this something you really want?"

For once, it didn't feel like the whole world was continuously plotting against her.

Someone was actually giving her a chance.

And she couldn't help but have a sense of reprieve to what was finally being offered to her after all of these years of bouncing through the system.

It would be up to Callie now.

She'd be in control.

But that was all she needed to hear before she smiled and nodded her head yes.

_The End_.

**SO, before you choose to hate me which I know some of you do right now, know that I WILL be writing a somewhat-short extended story to this. This wasn't what I initially planned to write it, but a few of my readers made a valid point. The name of the story is called "_Words Left Unspoken_." Honestly, the titles of my stories are usually whatever pops into my mind at the time. I don't give too much thought into it which is totally my fault. But some of my readers pointed out that it shouldn't be an easy resolution for Stef and Lena. This isn't something that could be fixed in a few short chapters and the title says it all. The moms never got to explain to Callie why they left her there that day in the courtroom; and even if they did, Callie shouldn't just forgive them just like that. A lot you wanted to see Callie's relationship with the moms being built up, since all of this didn't seem like something Callie could forget about after just a ten minute conversation with them and everything would be okay. 1 ½ years passed… It's going to take much more than that. **

**But ANYWAYS, the short sequel (extension – or whatever you wanna call it) will be just that. Depending on what I come up with it will be 5-12 chapters about how the moms and Callie decide to deal with the aftermath of all of this, how they come back across each other, how they handle it, how each person reacts to what, what other obstacles get in their way, what else has changed since the ending of this story and more. I'm hoping that 5-12 chapters of all of that is a lot better than a quick and extremely unrealistic resolution and that you understand why I chose to end the story this way. **

**Phew, this author's note is too long but necessary. I have a few ideas of my own but if you have any ideas which you want to run by me for the extension, I'm all ears. And if you're desperate to read a fic where Callie ran away and there WAS a quick resolution, I suggest reading my other story "Unwritten." I like writing those, but hoped that this would be more worth it. I also wanted to go a different route this time...**

**Aside from that, thanks for reading and for all of the reviews I have received! I've read every single one and they definitely helped as you can tell :)**


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